Cupboards are commonly used in daily life in kitchens, bedrooms, offices, etc. to store a wide range of articles, some of which may be harmful to children. Small children may also attempt to climb on, or even in, cupboards and cabinets in an effort to hide. Cupboards and cabinets may house many types of materials which may be potentially hazardous to children such as medicines, household cleaners, knives, tools, paint, etc.
To prevent young children from accessing these storage areas, numerous items have been patented and sold, most of a multi-piece assembly. Generally, some sort of a longitudinal member with a hook portion is attached to either side surface of a cupboard or cupboard handle to limit the amount the cupboard door may be opened. The hook portion may engage with the cupboard handles or fixings on the cupboard doors. A latch on the hook may be depressed to release the hook from the cupboard handles or fixings on the cupboard doors.
While the disengagement of the latch is relatively easy for an adult, the latches are intended to be difficult to manipulate by a child. However, since the actuation may be easily learned by an attentive child, the latch may soon prove inadequate.
In some cases, these hooks require at least two components, which need alignment during installation or adjustment after installation. These components generally include protrusions fixed to the cupboard door for the hook to latch around. This mechanism may further require a biasing member (springs, etc.) to bias the latch member against the hook member.
These hooks allow a certain amount of operability of the cupboard doors allowing their partial opening due the playability of the material used or a looseness of the fixing.
What is needed is a “child-proof” safety lock that is easy to install on at least one cupboard door, and which includes a more complex action which must be actuated to release the lock. Thus, a cupboard door may not be partially opened and its contents kept secure from children. Upon actuation of the more complex action by an adult, the contents may become accessible.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a lock which may preferably be moulded of plastic to provide a low cost safety latch.